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U.S.-North Korea Talks on Missile Program Set for March

North Korea has agreed to send a high-level delegation to the United States in March, opening the way for talks on North Korea's missile program, the spread of nuclear weapons and terrorism, the State Department said today.

The announcement on North Korea was made by the State Department spokesman, James P. Rubin, who arrived here this morning with with Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright for three days of talks.

Mr. Rubin described the North Korean delegation's visit as an ''important step forward'' in improving the hostile relations between the two countries. The announcement came at the end of seven days of meetings in Berlin between the United States and North Korea.

The Clinton administration's hope is that the visit in March would lead to a permanent agreement under which North Korea would agree to stop flight tests of its ballistic missiles for good, Mr. Rubin said.

North Korea agreed late last year not to continue these tests while talks on improvements in relations between the two governments continued. At the same time, Washington agreed to take steps to lift some economic sanctions against North Korea.

In 1998, North Korea fired an a long-range missile and appeared to be in the final stages of another launching last fall when the tentative agreement was reached between Washington and Pyongyang to halt the tests.

The threat of ballistic missiles from North Korea capable of hitting the United States has been the prime reason behind the Clinton administration's proposal for the deployment of a limited national missile defense system.

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Dr. Albright is scheduled to meet here on Wednesday with Russia's acting president, Vladimir V. Putin, and Washington's plans for national missile defense are high on the agenda. So far, Moscow has been resistant to the administration's proposals.

The visit by the North Koreans in March would provide the ''best opportunity'' to make progress on issues that are ''central to peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region,'' Mr. Rubin said.

North Korea, which is governed by a harsh Communist leadership, had been offered no concessions on its designation by the United States as a sponsor of terrorism, Mr. Rubin said. In order to be removed from that list, North Korea had to meet ''objective criteria,'' and had so far not done so, he said.

As part of Washington's effort to bring North Korea out of its isolation, a high-level delegation of American officials led by former Defense Secretary William J. Perry visited North Korea last March. The Clinton administration has been trying for many months to persuade senior North Korean officials to reciprocate with a visit to Washington.

At the Berlin talks, North Korea's vice foreign minister, Kim Gye Gwan, officially accepted the invitation, although a definite agenda for the Washington visit still needs to be decided, Mr. Rubin said. The North Koreans have not yet said who will lead their delegation, but he would be of similar seniority to Mr. Perry, who is President Clinton's special envoy to North Korea.

The American delegation in Berlin was led by a special envoy, Ambassador Charles Kartman, and Mr. Rubin said the two sides ''exchanged views on issues of common concern in a constructive, businesslike environment.''